With Readers and Correspondents [pp. 420-427]

WITH READARS AND CORRESPONDENTS.
dom. Nor, moreover, can the struggle between Russia and England for the
mastery of Asia be very far off. The war-clouds seem thicker near the Arabian
Sea than near the Black. Who knows how great a part Rome may yet play
between the Bear and the Lion? Readers of Les Annales des EcoZes d'Orzent
-the work so dear to Leo XIII.'s heart-are familiar with the wide-spread influence of these schools among the native populations, not only as far as education
goes, but also in spreading the church. And those peoples are all very friendly to
Russia.
Of course, prayers are the means proposed to accomplish the hoped-for reunion. But of all prayers, the particular one which is the special feature of this
work is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, either by hearing it or having it offered
up, or, in case of priests, by saying it themselves for that intention. The Russian
clergy are veritable priests. The Christian Sacrifice is the common property of
the Eastern and Western Churches. Should it not be the knot of the bond of
reunion, making the two but one and-holding them fast? So the laity are asked
to hear Mass and to have it offered up for the speedy tying of that blessed knot
of reunion, while priests are implored to offer up the Adorable Sacrifice so that
soon no schismatical hand will touch the Holy of Holies. A Plenary Indulgence
can be gained once every month by the priest who offers and those who hear the
Holy Sacrifice when offered up for this so weighty object, that Russia and Rome
be one-" That they may be one." Such is the substance of the discourse of the
Barnabite, who, although his eyes were closed all the while and his English very
imperfect, made a deep impression on the large congregation, and upon none
more than on J. R. S.
LIVERPOOL, Sept. 15.
THE CURSE OF A MODERN BALAAM.
In a late number of the New York Obser-ver, a newspaper which is regarded
as an official organ of the Presbyterian Church, there;appeared a singular attempt
to solve a problem that has hitherto seemed to defy the sages of the children of
Calvin. That problem is: Why Romanism Endures?" The modern soothsayer of the Observer thus enlightens his brethren:
First, Romanism recognizes, emphasizes, and utilizes the supernatural. It not only accepts the miraculous in the Scriptures and Christian history, but it presents this as a continual
manifestation and evidence of divine power in her present administration. This gives an immense weight to her authority, not only among the ignorant but among all classes, from the
lowest to the highest... Second, Romanism recognizes and emphasizes the sense of sin and
provides for its remission. This sense of sin is one of the root elements of universal religion,
in one form or another as universal as the impression of a future state and a Creator....
Third, Romanism recognizes, emphasizes, and provides for the external and the visible in all religious exercises. It is impossible to exaggerate the power of this feature in its character and
history. By ceremonials, symbols, images, pictures, costumes, imposing buildings, and above
all, always and everywhere, the miraculous uplifting of the real body of Jesus Christ in the sacrifice of Mass, this marvellous religion makes the invisible visible, the infinite finite, the inconceivable present, the unreal actual, the spiritual material, the heavenly earthly, the ideal practical, the eternal temporal.... All its religious provision has this material, practical character,
which makes it appreciated by the most ignorant and feared by the most learned. Its churches
are places where Christ abides in the flesh by the Holy Sacrament. Its ministers, however degraded personally, are officials of Christ's Vicar on earth, who rules here as God does in heaven
(sic). Its holy persons work miracles now just as the prophets and the apostles did in earlier
ages. Its relics of the saints are as powerful as the bones of Elisha, and its waters are more
healing than those of Bethesda, for they do not wait for the troubling of an angel. It has a
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